- [Narrator] Funding for the Art Show is made possible by the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Hale, Jr.

US Bank Foundation, and the Virginia W. Kettering Foundation, proud supporter of the arts in our community.

Additional funding provided by and viewers like you, thank you.

- [Rodney] In this edition of the Art Show, a community arts program offers creative exploration to artists of all ages.

(bright upbeat music) Telling a person's story without words, and musicians work with students to build confidence and affect people through music.

It's all ahead on this edition of the Art Show.

(bright upbeat music) Hi, I'm Rodney Veal, and welcome to the Art Show, where each week we provide access to local, regional, national artists and arts organizations.

Cincinnati's Springfield Township is home to a community arts program that offers a wide variety of artistic opportunities for creatives of all ages.

Established in 2012, with a newly renovated arts center in 2020, ArtsConnect provides a state-of-the-art experience in the areas of woodworking, blacksmithing, and pottery creation.

Visual and performing arts workshops are offered year round.

And with summer, comes in art camp that empowers kids to make a difference through their art.

Here's their story.

- [Kim] With the ArtsConnect camps, we embrace whatever it is the creativity that they want, but we want them to also think outside of themselves.

So this week, for example, we've got our puppets galore camp.

And all week they're gonna learn about puppet making and different forms of puppets.

And they're gonna learn about how puppetry is used to help children who may have gone through a traumatic time in their life.

So, one of the puppets that each one of those children are going to make today in our camp, will end up going in the hands of an arts therapist.

ArtsConnect is a nonprofit in partnership with Springfield Township.

We do all kinds of programs and events to make this community a vibrant place to live.

What's great about ArtsConnect though, is that all of our programming is available to anybody.

You do not need to live in Springfield Township to participate.

We have about 50 classes that go on in a single six-week session.

We have sewing, we have pottery, we have leather working, we have stain glass, the breadth of our programming is quite extensive.

Our programming choices come from all over the place.

People come to us with programming ideas, they vet them out, we tweak them and then we present it to the community and see whether or not it's going to stick.

- I pitched the idea of let's try doing some blacksmithing and knife making classes.

And so, we bring in all the tools and have those classes here in the wood shop, as well.

As soon as somebody finishes the intro wood shop class here, as long as they're over 18, they're eligible to come in and use the shop space.

It is a community shop.

So they have daily, monthly, and yearly rates that are all very reasonable.

You can bring in your own materials, work on your own projects.

And they've got a lot of larger equipment in here that isn't always feasible to get in a home shop.

Being able to come into a community space like this, take a class, learn, you know, safety and proper techniques to do something is really important, especially for the younger generation.

There's not as many schools nowadays that have programs like this and teach people to work with their hands.

- If you put wider colors on founder, probably still going to show up in case not from the inside.

- Art's really important to me because I get to like, just focus on that and not other problems in the world and helps me calm down and such.

It's really good class, and Jen's really helpful with us.

It's fun to do it with other kids close to my age.

- One of the things that we realized going through the pandemic is that there's this big arts community out there.

And when the world closed down and they weren't able to go to shows, they didn't have an online presence.

So, we are in the process right now of creating a website that will be an artist porthole, where people can purchase items from our local artists here, and that will all run through us.

We will do all the facilitation of shipping and allowing a place and a space for them to sell their works without having to be an expert in the internet side of things.

Arts CAC is a welcoming place.

I really encourage people strongly, even if they don't think that they're an artist, to try it out, give themselves a chance and experience something fun.

They will really, really have a good time here.

(bright upbeat music) - [Rodney] If you'd like to learn more about this or any other story on today's show, visit us online at cetconnect.org, or at thinktv.org.

- Detroit artist, Desiree Kelly, creates memorable, vivid portraits of public historical icons.

With each portrait she renders, she highlights her subject's life and personality.

Here's her story.

(bright upbeat music) - I try to go beyond like the boundaries.

I just wanna speak really through my art.

I find it really powerful to be able to tell a story visually, without any words.

My paintings are all about the subjects and it's all about telling their story.

And I wanna tell it in a very vibrant, energetic way that people wanna know about these people.

So I've studied art and I want to make it more interesting.

I came to the point where I was in college and I wanted to decorate my first apartment and I don't wanna hang a flower on my wall.

That's not the type of person I am.

And I wanted to make something that was just something you would never find it.

So I had to create it myself.

So, the subjects that I picked are people that I'm interested in and music is just always kept with me.

So you find a lot of musicians that I paint like Louis Armstrong, Jimmy Hendrix, and I just want to tell their personality and what I feel about them, 'cause it is their portrait.

And I wanna make it more interesting and sort of tell their story.

And that's someone that, you know, it's 10 years old can look at a piece that I create and learn a little bit of something by looking at the piece.

The foundation is oil paint, spray paint, and collage.

I have evolved to use other mediums like markers, acrylic paint.

It really depends on the subject and what I wanna convey and how to do it.

And there's some things that you can't paint.

Like you have to use physical items that you find, and it really creates another depth for my art.

It gives it texture.

If the person is a little bit more edgy or a contemporary, or reserved, it's really what I want to convey from their personality.

So for example, I have like a Danny Brown piece and he's really like wild and, you know, Detroit and edgy.

And so, I used a lot of collage and spray paint to build up the background of that piece, But the foundation is oil paint for the actual figure.

Abe Lincoln is one of my most iconic pieces that I've done.

I thought he was just a really interesting guy 'cause he was a boxer and, you know, he's all these crazy things that no one would ever know about him.

So when I did my research about him, all you could find are black and white photos, and I wanted to bring that to modern day.

So you have to add color, put them out of context, sort of like in modern day.

And what I did for my first rendition of him was put him like in front of a graffiti wall, that's at four score, and he's like taking a picture of himself with like a 35 millimeter camera, and he has like a tuxedo on.

It was just made like him as a character that brought him to life.

And I've since then, like I've done several murals of him actually with these kaleidoscope glasses that I think are just pretty cool.

And it sort of just makes him like a icon of today instead of just being stale in history.

I use a lot of like color and movement to try to capture you as long as possible, and maybe put like a little bit of details that are hidden things that you may not see until you look at it for maybe like the fifth time.

And my pieces are very diverse and they could be placed anywhere.

They could be placed in a home or in a restaurant, or, you know, for any particular venue.

So it's really interesting that you can find or learn something by looking at the piece of mine.

I have a Misty Copeland piece that I did.

She's like phenomenal person and she's accomplished so many things and broken so many barriers.

And so, throughout her piece, I incorporated a lot of magazine covers and sort of iconic pieces like out of her timeline.

And I chose this pose that was really sort of beautiful.

Today, I'm working on a Rob Zombie portrait, it's actually a part of a bigger project that I'm doing with a local restaurant, a vegan, and I'm doing a series of vegan musicians.

It's in the early phases of painting.

I do multiple layers, like I first tone it with the brown, and then I go back and add color.

And I'm also working on a NWA piece, which I'm picking back up after a year of sitting it down, I had to really think about what I wanted to do for the background and how I wanted to like capture their essence within the piece.

Like if I wanted to do a little bit more graffiti, add a little bit more of a spray paint and collage to that piece.

And this guy Eazy-E, he's like right in the center, like he's sort of like at the forefront of this and these guys are behind him.

So I wanna like highlight him, but also not have like the background overpower.

It is probably why I covered up a lot of this.

It lends itself to being more of a quiet background 'cause they're so in your face, just with their gesture, their look.

The phrases that I typically use for a portrait are song lyrics from that musician themselves, maybe movies that they were in.

If it's something more closer to home, like a Danny brown, I did do a bunch of like Detroit streets in the background, like a Welcome to Detroit city limits sign, whatever that's pertaining to that subject, I would include.

And a lot of like artifacts, like actual like albums and included that part of the piece.

My message is all about telling the stories of iconic figures, historical figures.

The way that I capture them can be placed in any setting really and spark a conversation.

(bright upbeat music) - The Art Show is going to be traveling around Southwest Ohio.

You might see this logo in your neighborhood.

Follow the travels of the Art Show on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at Think TV and CET Connect, and check out the Art Show hashtag.

Harlem Quartet is passionate about education and sharing the tradition of string quartet performance.

Students at Highland High School in Albuquerque, worked with the quartet and a master's class to develop technical and musical skills.

Here is part of the class.

(bright upbeat music) - I feel music has so many influence from math, from history, from all sorts of things that it's just a little excuses to dig deeper into many other aspects of life.

(bright upbeat music) - We play the greatest composers because they already have something to say that transcends nationalities.

- A professional orchestra is coming to engage us and to teach us.

Of course, I want to take the class.

(bright upbeat music) - I remember being that kid that for the first time heard Beethoven, for the first time heard Mozart, for the first time heard any kind of music.

And I will be amazed I always had that curiosity to know how is this all about, how you actually are able to make that music possible.

- They have a lot of expression and they're really fun people, they're just like outgoing and like loud and obnoxious.

And so like people think that if you play classical music, you're just kind of serious and like uptight and they weren't, it was like just hanging out with your friends, but playing instruments.

- [White] We're excited to hear you.

- We're ready whenever you're ready.

- Yep.

(bright upbeat music) - Starting out as a musician I don't think is a totally rational decision.

- I think you need to have a certain level of obsession.

- I believe music and the arts are so incredibly important because they express something that honestly, sometimes we as humans have difficulty coming up with the words to express, whether it's a feeling, an emotion, a character, and also with our specific medium, the string quartets, basically what we do in concert and, you know, when we work with students is we have a conversation on stage.

(mumbles) And then occasionally one person, you for instance, would have (mumbles).

It's a dialogue, right?

Back and forth.

- And for us to translate that into actual playing, you want to make sure your bow always has more on the main beat.

So every time you see a bar line, just play with more bowl and right after that, play with a little bit less bow and a little bit less weight.

- Okay, so before we get started, if we're gonna try this without a conductor, who becomes our initiator of show?

- Yes.

- Have you practiced this already?

- Yeah.

- Yeah, sorry.

(bright upbeat music) - Music really has a way of like making me express myself, because I'm not so good at expressing feelings or anything or talking to people.

And that's how I like communicate and socialize with other people through music.

(bright upbeat music) - Okay.

- Very nice.

- Where we stop that's the end of the phrase from where you start.

So (mumbles).

It's like you're reading a paragraph.

- So even if I was with my ears closed, the bow is describing the hierarchy.

So more bow, less, less, and more less, less.

- Can you try that?

- It's like a dumbbell.

Can we try just the violas once?

- Okay, so one, two, one.

And more, less, less, and more less, less, and less than.

That's it, you got it.

- Nice.

- That's what I wanted.

That's what I-- - Also the cue was great.

- I Learned that since I'm the first violin, I kinda have to be the leader of the group.

And so in the piece that we worked with the Harlem Quartet, like whenever I count off, it's like a nod and then (plays violin).

And you do that.

And then in another one of our songs, when we have a long note, then it's the same thing with like a nod.

You play the note and (plays violin).

- So when you have to go more, you actually need to play with the same amount of both, the same amount, because you need to come back to the same place, right?

So, (plays violin) way less.

You almost can dance to that.

But if you come back with the same way, this is the result (plays violin).

So I don't really understand which one is more important.

And for them it's always like that (plays violin).

No, sorry (plays violin), less, more.

You see I do the same amount of bow, but a lot lighter.

- I never really worked with a professional orchestra before, not even in middle school.

So, it was really like understandable and more learning and more having experience with them too.

- Remember music is mathematics, so-- - One, two, three, go.

- (mumbles) Bomb, bomb.

So divide with, listen to them and then you play the music or your part with the line, okay?

One more time.

(bright upbeat music) - I love working with students because now that I'm a little bit older, I recognize that they really are the future, and it's fun to know that we're getting to sculpt away that they can identify themselves perhaps as a musician if it's going to be, or just one day being a leader, but embracing their voice and being confident in what their voice is and knowing that they have the power to influence people and affect people, which is what we do as musicians.

(bright upbeat music) Smile.

(all laugh) (Harlem Quartet applauding) Nice job everybody.

Okay, stand up and take a bow-- - I love getting together with a bunch of other people that also love music and then creating music altogether.

'Cause when you're with a bunch of people that also love music, you can create something beautiful.

- [Rodney] Did you miss an episode of the Art Show?

No problem.

You can watch it on demand cetconnect.org and thinktv.org.

You'll find all the previous episodes as well as current episodes and links to the artists we feature.

And that wraps it up for this edition of the Art Show.

Until next time, I'm Rodney Veal, thanks for watching.

(bright upbeat music) - [Narrator] Funding for the Art Show is made possible by the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Hale Jr.

US Bank Foundation and the Virginia W. Kettering Foundation, proud supporter of the arts in our community.

Additional funding provided by and viewers like you.

Closed captioning in part has been made possible through a grant from the Bahmann Foundation, thank you.